April 11, 2010

New Way HIV Infects Women

Important health news from the world of medical science, as a new form of danger from HIV has been pinpointed, that specifically makes the AIDS issue more complex for women.

Said one of the health experts studying how to prevent the spreading of the disease,
"This is an unexpected and important result. We have a new understanding of how HIV can invade the female vaginal tract. Until now, science has really had no idea about the details of how sexual transmission of HIV actually works," Hope added. "The mechanism was all very murky."

According to doctors and researchers studying HIV transmisson, the female vaginal tract is more susceptible to the virus than had been previously thought. The health professionals said this new finding highlights the need for more preventative options and resources for women. We urgently need new prevention strategies or therapeutics to block the entry of HIV through a woman's genital skin," one said. While condoms are 100% effective in blocking the virus, "people don't always use them for cultural and other reasons,"

Researchers at Northwestern University have discovered a critical new way a man can transmit the HIV virus to a woman. Scientists had long believed that the normal lining of the female vaginal tract was an effective barrier to invasion of the HIV virus during sexual intercourse. They thought the large HIV virus couldn't penetrate the tissue. But new research from Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine has shown for the first time that the HIV virus does indeed penetrate a woman's normal, healthy genital tissue to a depth were it can gain access to its immune cell targets.